P3 – What’s really going on?
Category Archives: Federal
Do as I say……
Just a few days ago Richmond BC resident Selina She Yin Tsui, who had held herself out as a “holistic healer”, lost two properties she owned after both were “declared instruments and proceeds of unlawful activity” under the province’s civil forfeiture laws.
What was unusual was not that someone collected money, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars for something they didn’t, couldn’t (Tsui had no actual medical training) deliver; rather it was that her ‘marks’ got some restitution.
Most often the reports are about how the con men (or women) made promises or claims, took people’s money, delivered nothing and kept the money or there were no assets or funds to repay the ‘marks’..
Citizens are always complaining that politicians lied or that they did not keep their promises.
The new television season of Holmes on Homes begins tonight, where Mike Holmes rescues homeowners from builders or contractors who made promises about what they would do, took the money to do what they promised, didn’t deliver what they promised and kept the homeowners money.
And on the news last night, there was Christie Clark coyly smirking about getting out of repaying Ottawa the $1.6 billion BC took to implement the HST. Undoubtedly most British Columbians are cheering for Clark to be 100% successful in reneging on British Colombia’s written agreement with the federal government on implementing the HST.
As a society we like to talk the talk about integrity, morals, ethics, and principles as long as it isn’t costing us, as individuals or a society, anything or any inconvenience. But as soon as it becomes inconvenient or is going to cost us effort, or worse money, we walk away – ignoring integrity, morals, ethics and principles.
We had an agreement with the federal government on the HST whereby the province of British Columbia would receive payments totalling $1.6 billion dollars in exchange for implementing the HST.
In that agreement it was clearly set out that we had the right to change our minds and extinguish the HST. It was also clearly set out that if we chose to change our minds and not participate in the HST, the $1.6 billion would have to be repaid to Ottawa.
The fact the $1.6 billion would have to be repaid to the federal government if we voted to extinguish the HST was oft cited in the discussion leading up to the referendum on keeping or extinguishing the HST. Prime Minister Harper clearly and definitely stated that if British Columbia chose to extinguish the HST the province would have to repay the $1.6 billion dollars to the federal government.
Knowing that a major consequence of choosing to extinguish the HST would be repaying Ottawa that $1.6 billion dollars, British Columbians voted to extinguish the HST – we voted to return the $1.6 billion to Ottawa.
That may be an inconvenient truth, but for a people or a society of integrity, morals, ethics and principles there would be no option other than returning the money.
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The news has recently been full of the fact none of the rioters from the Game 7 debacle has been charged, much less meted out any punishment or consequences. About how the rioters needed to pay the penalty for their decisions and actions; and on the same broadcast we have Christie Clark sitting there acknowledging her efforts to get British Columbia out of the consequences of voting to extinguish HST.
Harper may well decide to forgive all or part of the $1.6 billion repayment due the federal government from British Columbia. Not because it’s a good idea, but as a matter of politics – an opportunity to buy votes in British Columbia. If Harper were a leader instead of a politician, he would clearly be saying “No, we had an agreement. You made a promise, a commitment, to the federal government. We, the federal government, made the promised payments to British Columbia. But the province of British Columbia chose to change its mind and not participate in the HST. In the agreement it was clearly set out that if British Columbia chose not to participate it was required to repay the$1.6 billion.”
“It would be unfair to the other provinces and territories not to require British Columbia to repay these funds. More importantly, it is necessary to require the repayment of these funds in order to protect the integrity of agreements made between the federal government, the provinces and territories, as well as agreements between the provinces and territories themselves.”
Consider the effect upon healthcare should the agreements between provinces, territories and the federal government become ‘flexible’ (not worth the paper they’re written on). Definitely a path we don’t want to start down, a can of worms we don’t want to open.
If Christie Clark was a leader instead of a politician, or if Stephen Harper was a leader and not a politician, there would be no question about the agreement between Ottawa and Victoria being kept as this is the best course for Canada and ultimately for British Columbia. It is in the fact they are politicians and not leaders that the possibility of a portion, or the entire $1.6 billion, not being repaid per the agreement lies. Because the question for politicians is not what is good for the country or province but what political gain is available to be had.
The reason we have politicians who lie to us rather than leaders, is that we are not a People or a Society, not a province or a country, of integrity, morals, ethics and principles as we like to lie to ourselves we are.
True integrity, morals, ethics and principle are not things one puts on when it is convenient and sets aside when they are inconvenient or uncomfortable or require sacrifice or the paying of a price.
As Martin Luther King Jr. stated “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
Lybia
The media coverage of the HMCS Vancouver setting sail to Libyan waters to relieve HMCS Charlottetown, which has been in action off the Libyan coast since March, underscores Mr Harper and his Conservatives lack of an ethical base.
Mr Harper justified the involvement of the Canadian military in Libya by stating that the Canadian military was there to ‘protect the Libyan people from Mr Gaddafi.
According to Mr Harper Mr Gaddafi killing citizens of Libya is such a grievous offence that military intervention by countries from around the world is required to put an end to this killing.
Conversely Mr Harper is perfectly fine with Canadian business (with the approval and support of the Canadian government) to kill Libyans and citizens of any other country by exporting asbestos – a substance whose use is banned in Canada because it causes death, cancer and asbestosis – profiting from the export of death.
Obviously Mr Gaddafi’s mistake was that he should have used Canadian asbestos to kill his victims; Mr Gaddafi’s sin lay in his failure to contribute to the profitability of the Quebec asbestos exports and thus to the electability of Mr Harper’s Conservatives in the province of Quebec.
Terrorist – The eyes of the beholder?
Prior to the atomic bomb era the deadly atomic weapon in Science Fiction was ‘nuclear dust’. Widespread death was caused by disbursing radioactive dust throughout the atmosphere bringing about death from radiation poisoning.
It wasn’t until nuclear science was driven by WWII to create the atomic bomb that the nuclear weapon of mass death and destruction became the atomic bomb
Interestingly we’ve come somewhat full circle so that among the terrorist scenarios popular for movies (and undoubtedly among the nightmares of those charged with anti-terrorism) is terrorists using dirty bombs; bombs that are designed to vaporize radioactive material into dust form and disburse it into the air of a building, buildings or city.
As in the pre-1945 Science Fiction the radioactive particles are breathed in by the population causing radiation poisoning and death.
Depending on the concentration and radioactivity death can take hours, days, weeks, months or even years – as was the case with the soldiers used in the A bomb tests of the 40s and 50s who developed and died from cancers decades later.
Of course microscopic airborne particles do not have to be radioactive to cause illness, cancer and death.
Asbestos is banned in Canada and other developed nations because it’s microscopic fibres stay in the air/environment and cause asbestosis, cancer and death.
Indeed the deadly nature of asbestos is such that if you were to ship Quebec asbestos to the USA and disburse the micro fibres throughout buildings or cities it would be considered an act of terrorism.
Yet Mr Harper and his Conservatives are exporting asbestos abroad, killing people around the world.
Mr Harper has stated he sees nothing wrong with spreading asbestos’s deadly micro fibres and death to less developed nations around the world. Nor does it appear Mr Harper or his Conservatives will pay any penalty for this trading in death.
Mr Harper has stated he sees nothing wrong with spreading asbestos’s deadly micro fibres and death to less developed nations around the world. Nor does it appear Mr Harper or his Conservatives will pay any penalty for this trading in death.
Yet you can be sure that if you or I were to take Quebec asbestos and disburse it’s micro fibres throughout the offices or homes of Mr Harper and his Conservatives, they would be screaming for you or I to be arrested and charged for assaulting (or attempting to kill them) with a deadly weapon – asbestos.
Reflecting the sad reality that in Canada, in the world as a whole, some are far more equal than others. Unfortunately those who are far more equal also are oft far more ethically challenged as well. With negative, even deadly, consequences for those who are not numbered among the political class, the wealthy, the connected or the privileged
Find yourself asking what’s wrong with today’s young people or complaining about the state of society these days?
What do you expect when we have made human life the cheapest commodity of the planet?
Choice isn’t about HST or PST
The author of a recent column on the HST stated “I’m sick of the lies…”, a sentiment I am sure many voters in BC and across Canada would echo. Although I am not sure why.
After all, for decades voters have been rewarding the politicians who have lied to them and told voters what they wanted to hear by electing them and punishing those who wanted to focus on important issues, who told the truth or told voters what they did not want to hear.
To put it in terms of animal husbandry – we have been selecting for and breeding politicians who lie.
So why is anyone surprised that politicians lie?
When you consider the list of issues and challenges voters don’t want or refuse to hear about, or think about and the list of issues and challenges voters ‘know all about’ – even though the evidence shows what they know is erroneous; the choices or priorities voters do not want to have to choose among or set; the things voters just plain don’t want to hear……..it is tough to talk about anything without either lying or eliciting the same response from voters that you get taking a stick to a hive of Africanized bees.
Voters want governments to provide all the services voters feel they are entitled to and/or want, they want them provided NOW – and they don’t want these services to cost them one penny more than they are paying now.
The provincial Liberal government should have said NO to funding anything but provincial infrastructure (i.e. the sea to sky highway upgrades) for the 2010 Winter Olympics. But then Vancouver would have not hosted the Olympics and then everyone (including the voters) would be blaming the Liberals and saying they should have funded the Olympics. And you can bet that if the Liberals had said NO, the NDP would have flipped and been demanding the Liberals fund the Olympics and raising the Liberals ‘losing’ the Olympics as an election issue.
And when the BC Liberals were unable to say no to the federal government’s HST compensation offer because they needed the $1.6 billion so badly to cover Olympic expenses and Olympic cost over runs. No one who supported the 2010 Winter Olympics should be complaining about the HST because the HST is part of the price of hosting the Winter Olympics.
And to layer financial irresponsibility on top of financial irresponsibility they was all the money wasted on throwing a one year anniversary celebration of the Olympics. Where were the taxpayers then? Oh ya, they were out partying.
About politicians the author also said “…. start performing on our behalf instead of using all their brain power on ways to get all our money.”
Politicians are not using all their brain power to get all our money. They are using all their brain power to keep getting re-elected and to form the government. In order to do this they must try to satisfy voters who want more, more, more. Voters who, if they do not get their way, throw a temper tantrum that would put any two year old to shame (as Mr Vander Zalm and the anti-HST forces are doing) and throw out the politicians who dared to suggest that there is such a thing as enough and replace them with politicians who promise voters whatever voters want and tell voters whatever it is they want to hear. You know, the politicians who lie to them.
So it is not that politicians are focused on getting as much money from voters pocketbooks as possible for the sake of getting the money. Rather politicians are focused on giving voters what they want , when they want it – as best they can – in order to get re-elected and remain the government.
It is simply that this course of action requires governments to maximize the amount of milk (cash) the government can get out of people to add to the funds they can borrow so they can give people what they want and are demanding and get re-elected.